Will NY go to a six man rotation?

[jon abbey]

So, teams always talk about this and no one actually does it, but if guys stay healthy for the next month or so, NY will have both the personnel and a good reason to do this (protecting Tanaka), so I thought it was worth digging into a bit.
 
Capuano, Tanaka, and Nova are all on the way back. Capuano threw 72 pitches in AAA last night, so is on track to be ready two turns from now. Nova threw a couple of innings in extended spring training, and Tanaka picked up a ball for the first time since being shut down, 50 tosses from 60 feet.
 
So if all three of those guys are available and no one else gets hurt, this is I think my staff suggestion:
 
Rotation:
 
Pineda
Tanaka
Eovaldi
CC
Nova
Capuano
 
Bullpen:
 
Warren
Rogers
Carpenter
Wilson
Betances
Miller
 
Sent to AAA (all have options, pretty sure):

Shreve
Martin
Whitley
 
They could try this for 3-4 weeks, and see how guys performed. CC getting hurt would help things overall probably, and also they could trade Carpenter for a prospect, a la Shawn Kelley, and promote Lindgren or keep Martin up.

 

[cromulence]

I've been thinking the exact same thing, and I'd say there's a real chance. I think it could even happen before Nova is back. In that case, it would seem that it's either Warren back to the pen (assuming Whitley continues to outpitch him) or a six man rotation. Warren to the pen wouldn't be a terrible idea since you'd really be able to spread out the workload, but the way Pineda just pitched on an extra day's rest, added to the efforts to keep Tanaka on extra rest...it just feels like they might actually go for it. I'd like to see it, even if it only turns out to be a temporary experiment.

 

[EvilEmpire]

I'd like to see it too. They have the arms. They have the injury concerns. I say commit to it and see what the data looks like at the end of the season.

 

[BestGameEvah]

From over on the LoHudYankees Blog:
 
• If Tanaka makes it back by the end of the month, which the Yankees originally stated was their hope, will they be even more cautious with him than they were before? In Spring Training, they talked about inserting a sixth starter from time-to-time to give everyone extra rest, and clearly Tanaka was one of the guys that they thought would benefit from that. But Girardi stressed that Tanaka wasn’t the only reason that they made that decision, and he doesn’t think they’ll take it even further if and when Tanaka makes it back. “I think we kind of went in when we started this year knowing that we’d substitute a starter in here or there when we wanted to give guys extra rest,” he said. “We had CC coming off an injury, Tanaka, what Pineda dealt with, so there was some thought that we were going to be somewhat careful before (Tanaka’s latest injury). I don’t think it will really change what we’re doing.”
• Do they plan on using a sixth starter anytime soon (as in before Tanaka gets back)? “We have not (discussed it),” Girardi said. “We are on rotation as we speak, and if something changes, obviously I’ll let you know. Our depth has taken a little bit of a hit. We put Whitley in there and it’s kind of to see how guys are doing. If we feel that we need to insert someone else, then we’ll do it.”
• As of right now, it sounds like Capuano is the closest to being able to rejoin the big league rotation. And considering Nova is throwing actual innings on a mound and Tanaka just started playing catch, you’d have to assume that Nova is ahead of Tanaka.
 
yankees.lhblogs.com

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

With 7 relievers and a 3 man bench?  Or using the Columbus SWB shuttle to keep the bullpen fresh and stocked at 6?

 

[hbk72777]

They really need to expand the rosters. Most teams stopped carrying a 3rd catcher 15 years ago, now with all of the specialty relivers and a 6 man rotation, it needs to be discussed more than the 154 game schedule at the meetings.

 

[jon abbey]

With 7 relievers and a 3 man bench?  Or using the Columbus SWB shuttle to keep the bullpen fresh and stocked at 6?

 
I don't think they can drop a bench guy, especially given the age of guys like A-Rod and Beltran and Tex.
 
I was thinking a six man bullpen including two long guys (Rogers/Warren) and yes, using the AAA shuttle where they would have Shreve/Martin/Whitley/Lindgren/Ramirez, but it's certainly definitely hard to make work with a 25 man roster, which is probably the main reason pretty much no one has tried it yet. 

 

[jon abbey]

OK, so Capuano has hopefully his final rehab start in AAA tonight, going for 90 pitches. Tanaka threw his first bullpen today, 30 pitches, and Nova has been pitching in extended spring training games for a week or two. 
 
So this is what I think will happen, of course barring any new injuries:

Capuano bumps Warren next time through the rotation, NY desperately needs Warren right now as a lockdown 7th inning guy with Martin hurt and Carpenter and Wilson unreliable, otherwise Girardi is going to burn out Betances and Miller by August. 
 
Tanaka bumps Whitley, who goes back to AAA and stays stretched out.

And then Nova will force them to make the decision about a six man rotation, again assuming everyone stays healthy until then. 

 

[jon abbey]

RAB has the specifics on the three guys on their way back:

====================================
 
Masahiro Tanaka (wrist, forearm) threw a 30-pitch bullpen session as scheduled this afternoon. It was his first time throwing off a mound since landing on the DL two weeks ago. Tanaka threw all of his pitches and everything went well. The Yankees are going to see how he feels tomorrow before determining the next step.
 
Ivan Nova (elbow) threw 33 pitches in an extended spring training game earlier today. Joe Girardi and Larry Rothschild were among those in attendance at the team’s complex in Tampa. “I was a little bit excited. It felt like I was doing too much. I guess I was trying to impress the manager and the pitching coach. I don’t know why,” said Nova, who will pitch in another ExST game on Monday.
 
Chris Capuano (quad) is scheduled to throw six innings and 90 pitches for Triple-A Scranton tonight. It’ll be his third and maybe last minor league rehab game. “We shouldn’t really need to see much more than that,” said Girardi. “We’ll make that determination on how he feels, but it’s possible (he could be activated for his next start), yeah.”
 
http://riveraveblues.com/2015/05/injury-updates-tanaka-nova-capuano-ryan-lail-119384/

 

[derekson]

They really need to expand the rosters. Most teams stopped carrying a 3rd catcher 15 years ago, now with all of the specialty relivers and a 6 man rotation, it needs to be discussed more than the 154 game schedule at the meetings.

 
I'd love to see 2 or even 3 more roster spots added, but with a provision capping the number of pitchers on the roster at 13, so we can actually see teams carrying bench bats again. The game is more interesting when teams carry bench bats (typically platoon guys who aren't good enough to start, guys like Garrett Jones and Jonny Gomes being examples though both have started enough in their careers to break out of this mold). With teams sometimes carrying 13 pitches on a 25 man roster, we're now seeing benches that just consist of 1. Backup C 2. Utility infielder who can play SS 3. Utility outfielder who can play CF and then one slot that gets rotated through 25th man bench types and the 8th reliever depending on current needs. It really limits what managers can do and makes the game less interesting to follow day to day.
 
Plus it's ridiculous to watch NL games go into extra innings, and by the 11th inning they are out of position players and sending starting pitchers up to PH because the benches are so damned shallow now.

 

[jon abbey]

NY officially going to a six man rotation on Wednesday when Pineda is back, six days later the rosters expand so they will have a bunch more bullpen guys behind them, but it might get tricky before that. I think they may bump a position player (Ryan) instead of a reliever, but we'll see. Curious who this lines up for the TOR series starting on 9/10:
 
8/26 Pineda
8/28 Tanaks
8/29 Severino
8/30 Sabathia
8/31 Eovaldi
9/1 Nova
9/2 Pineda
9/4 Tanaka
9/5 Severino
9/6 Sabathia
9/7 Eovaldi
9/8 Nova
9/9 Pineda
 
So Tanaka/Severino/CC/Eovaldi are lined up currently for that TOR series and then Nova/Pineda/Tanaka for the one in TOR starting on 9/21, but of course with a six man rotation and some off days, there is plenty of room to move that around if NY wants.

 

[jon abbey]

So the CC injury seems to have basically killed the six man rotation idea for this season, Mitchell will join the bullpen as a long guy when he is ready. They will possibly let someone have a spot start to give guys extra days, but not a full-fledged six man rotation as they had planned until yesterday. 

 

[Couperin47]

CC goes on the DL, Joe says "it's possible he misses the rest of the season".  Please make it so.

 

[jon abbey]

Sorry to say, he seems like a great guy and 2009 doesn't happen without him, but it's pretty clear that NY would be best off if his career was over, whether or not they have to pay him for 2017. It sounds like he may need microfracture surgery and that's not generally recommended for people as heavy as him, so I guess we'll see.